An important aim of ongoing research in the semiconductor industry is increasing semiconductor performance while decreasing the size of semiconductor devices. Planar transistors, such as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) are particularly well suited for use in high-density integrated circuits. As the size of the MOSFET decreases and the density of the devices increases, the demands of maintaining the electrical isolation of adjacent transistors increases.
The use of shallow trench isolation (STI) significantly shrinks the area needed to isolate transistors and thereby provides higher device density than local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS). STI also provides superior latch-up immunity, smaller channel width encroachment, and improved planarity. The use of STI techniques also eliminates the bird's beak frequently encountered with LOCOS.
Strained silicon technology allows the formation of higher speed devices. Strained-silicon transistors are created by depositing a graded layer of silicon germanium (SiGe) on a bulk silicon wafer. A thin layer of silicon is subsequently deposited on the SiGe layer. The distance between atoms in the SiGe crystal lattice is greater than the distance between atoms in an ordinary silicon lattice. Because there is a natural tendency of atoms inside different crystals to align with one another when a second crystal is formed over a first crystal, when silicon is deposited on top of SiGe the silicon crystal lattice tends to stretch or “strain” to align the silicon atoms with the atoms in the SiGe layer. Electrons in the strained silicon experience less resistance and flow up to 80% faster than in unstrained silicon.
There are two general types of MOS transistors, N-channel MOS (NMOS) formed with n-type source and drain regions in a p-type wafer, and P-channel MOS (PMOS) formed with p-type source and drain regions. NMOS transistors conduct electrons through the transistor channel, while PMOS transistors conduct holes through the transistor channel. Typically, the source and drain regions of the transistors are doped with phosphorous or arsenic to form n-type source/drain regions, while boron doping is used to form p-type source/drain regions.
CMOS transistors, which comprise N- and P-channel MOS transistors on the same substrate, suffer from imbalance. The imbalance is due to electron mobility being greater than hole mobility in the channel region. Therefore, NMOS transistors are faster than PMOS transistors. Typically, NMOS transistors are about 2 to about 2.5 times faster than PMOS transistors.
The problem of imbalance in CMOS devices is further exacerbated in CMOS devices comprising strained silicon channels. Strained silicon does not enhance hole mobility in PMOS transistors as much as it does electron mobility in NMOS transistors. Therefore, a CMOS device comprising strained silicon channels is more unbalanced than a CMOS transistor with conventional crystalline silicon channels.
The term semiconductor devices, as used herein, is not to be limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments. Semiconductor devices, as used herein, include a wide variety of electronic devices including flip chips, flip chip/package assemblies, transistors, capacitors, microprocessors, random access memories, etc. In general, semiconductor devices refer to any electrical device comprising a semiconductor.